Immobilization Of Chromium And Other Metals In Contaminated Sediments From Northern Morocco Ports Using Mineral Additives

The fate of dredged sediments is a major problem in some countries due to significant contamination organic and mineral pollutants. Land disposal dredged sediment must be accompanied treatment to limit the dispersion of pollutants in the environment. In this paper,laboratorybatch adsorption experiments were used at room temperature (25 °C) to evaluate the feasibility of using low cost mineral additives as stabilization agents of heavy metals, especially chromium, from dredged sediments. Our results indicate that the adsorption of Cr(VI) depends strongly on the pH (2-11), but is independent of ionic strength (0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 M) for Hematite. For Kaolinite, adsorption is strongly dependent on pH values (2-11) and ionic strength (0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 M). Then,batch leaching methods were used to evaluate the effectiveness of hematite and kaolinite, as additives for reducing the mobilization of heavy metals, especially chromium, from contaminated dredged sediments. The obtained results demonstrate that the addition of amendments could be a successful technique for stabilization of chromium and other metals in contaminated sediment.